Download “Mormon” Position

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THE STRENGTH OF THE
’
“Mormon”
Position
BY
ORSON F.
WHITNEY
Copyright
1917
By Joseph F. Smith, Trustee in Trust
for the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints
THESTREiiJGTH
OFTHE“MORMON”
POSITION
By ELDER
ORSON
F. WHTTNEY,
Of the Council of the Twelve, Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints
Upon the pinnacle of the Temple in Salt Lake City,
there stands the gilded statue of an Angel, in the act of
sounding a trumpet, symbolizing the restoration and proclamation of the Everlasting
Gospel, in fulfillment
of the
Scripture which says:
“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven,
having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell
on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue,
and people,
“Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to
Him; for the hour of His judgment is come.“-Revelation
14:6-7.
Early
Christian
Annals
History, tinged with tradition, affirms these to be the
circumstances under which those words were uttered: The
Savior had chosen Twelve Apostles, and had commissioned
them to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every
creature. Obedient to the divine mandate, they had gone
forth, and within fifty years had lifted the Gospel standard
in every considerable city of ihe Roman Empire, which then
had sway over the known world. One by one the Apostles
had been taken: James was slain with the sword at Jerusa-
4
THE STRENC~ OF THE “MORMON” %osmo~
lem; Peter was crucilied, and Paul beheaded, at Rome; all
had suffered martyrdom for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus-all save one, concerning whom Peter had
inquired: “Lord, what shall this man do?” And the Savior,
answering, had said: “If I will that he tarry till I come, what
is that to thee?” (St. John 21:21-22.)
Modem revelation co&ms the ancient tradition that
John, the beloved disciple, did not die, but obtained a
promise from the Lord that he should remain upon earth,
not subject to death, and bring souls to Him. He was to
*prophesy before nations, kindreds, tongues and peoples,”
and continue till the Lord came in His glory. (Doctrine
and Covenants, Section 7.) An attempt was made upon
John’s life, but it proved ineffectual. He was thrown into
a cauldron of boiling oil, but escaped miraculously.
John on Patmos
In de ninety-sixth year of the Christian era, this man
was on the Isle of Patmos, in the Aegean Sea. Patmos was
the Roman Siberia. To that desolate place the Empire
banished its criminals, compelling them to work in the
mines. John was an exile for the Truth’s sake. But the Lord
had not forgotten His servant, though men had rejected him
and cast him out. The Heavens were opened, and he was
shown many things pertaining to the future. He foresaw the
apostasy of the Christian world, its departure from -the
faith once delivered to the saints,” the “falling away” foretold by the Apostle Paul. (2 Thes. 2;3.) But John also
looked forward to a time when that faith would be restored,
and when the hour of God’s judgment would come. The
dead, small and great, would stand before the Great White
JOSEPHSMITH, THE PROPHET
5
Throne, and be “judged out of the things written in the
books,” every man according to his works. (Rev. 20:11-13.)
Joseph Smith
To the Latter-day Saints, these are the days of that predicted restoration, and Joseph Smith was the divinely appointed agent for bringing back the Everlasting Gospel.
Who was this Joseph Smith? He was a farmer’s boy, born
among the mountains of Vermont, December 23, 1805, but
living with his parents in the backwoods of western New
York, when his career as a prophet began. He had been
much exercised upon the subject of his soul’s salvation, a
religious revival having recently occurred in his neighborhood. The ministers of the various sects united in calling
upon the people to repent; each one urging them to join
his particular congregation, and disputing among themselves upon points of doctrine and authority. The situation
bewildered the boy, who was an honest seeker after light,
anxious to know the true Church, in order that he might
join it. One day while reading the Scriptures, he chanced
upon the following passage:
“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that
giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall
be given him.” (James 1:s.)
Profoundly impressed by these sacred words, he resolved to test the promise by asking from God the wisdom of
which he stood in need. With that object in view, he retired
to the woods near his father’s home, and knelt in prayer. No
sooner had he begun to pray, than he was seized upon by
a power which filled his soul with horror and paralyzed his
tongue so that he could no longer speak. So terrible was
6
THE STRENGTH OF THE “MORMON”
POSITION
the visitation, that he almost gave way to despair. But he
continued praying; for there are two ways of offering prayer
-“orally
and in secret.” He had been praying orally, but
could not now supplicate in that manner, being unable to
move his lips. Yet he continued to pray-with
“the soul’s
sincere desire”; and just at the moment when he feared that
he must abandon himself to destruction, he saw, directly
over his head, a light more brilliant than noonday. In the
midst of a pillar of glory he beheld two beings in human
form, One of whom, pointing to the Other, said: “This is
my beloved Son, hear Him.”
As soon as the Light appeared, the boy found himself
delivered from the fettering power of the Evil One. When
he could again command utterance, he inquired
of his
glorious visitants which of all the religious denominations
was right-which
one was the true Church of Christ? To
his astonishment he was told that none of them was right;
that they had all gone out of the way, and were teaching for
doctrine the commandments
of men. The Lord did not
recognize any of them, but was about to restore the Gospel
and the Priesthood and establish his Church once more in
the midst of mankind.
This was Joseph Smith’s first vision and revelation. It
came in the spring of 1820, when he was a few months over
fourteen years of age. The greater part of this wonderful
manifestation
was the part that did not speak, the silent revealing of God as a personage; a truth plainly taught in
the Scriptures (Gen. 1:26, 27; Phil. 2:5-8; Col. 1:13-15;.
Heb. l-3), but ignored or denied by modem Christianity.
Three years later the youth received a visitation from
an Angel, who gave his name as Moroni, the same who is
represented by the statue on the Salt Lake Temple. This
JOSEPH SMITH, THE PROPHET
7
Angel announced himself as the last of a line of prophets
who had ministered to an ancient people called Nephites, a
branch of the house of Israel-not
the Lost Tribes, as is
often asserted, but a portion of the tribe of Joseph. They had
crossed over from Jerusalem about the year 600 B. C., and,
with a remnant of the tribe of Judah, which joined them
later, had inhabited the Americas down to about the beginning of the fourth Christian century. At that time the civilized though degenerate nation was destroyed by a savage
faction known as Lamanites,
ancestors of the American
Indians.
The
Book
of Mormon
The Angel showed to Joseph where a record of the
Nephites had been deposited, and subsequently
delivered
it into his hands, with interpreters,
Urim and Thummim,
by means of which the youth translated the record into
English and gave to the world the Book of Mormon. It was
so named for its compiler, the Nephite prophet Mormon,
whose son and survivor, Moroni, had buried the metallic
plates containing it in a hill, where they were found September 22nd, 1823. The Hill Cumorah, called “Mormon Hill”
by the present day inhabitants
of that region, is between
Palmyra and Manchester,
in the State of New York. For
their belief in the Book of Mormon, the Latter-day
Saints
are termed “Mormons,”
and their religion, “Mormonism.”
This book tells how the Savior, after his resurrection,
made himself known to the Nephites-the
“other sheep”
referred to in John IO:16and
organized his Church among
them, after the pattern of his Church at Jerusalem. Choosing twelve special witnesses, he gave to three of them the
same promise that he had given to the Apostle John-that
they should remain upon earth, superior to death, and bring
8
THE STFWNGTHOF THE “MORMON”
POSITION
souls to Him. He prophesied concerning America, the Land
of Zion, the place for the New Jerusalem, a holy city to be
built by a gathering of scattered Israel prior to His second
coming. The Nephite record, containing the fulness of the
Gospel as delivered to that ancient people, is a history of
this chosen land and a prophecy of its future. It predicts
the great work introduced by the latter-day Prophet, a
work so marvelous in some of its phases that most men
reject it, deeming it a fable.
But the Christian world, with the Bible in its hands,
should have been prepared for something of this kind. The
Hebrew seers prophesied concerning it. Isaiah foretold “a
marvelous work and a wonder,” declaring at the same time
that the wisdom of the wise should perish, and the understanding of the prudent be hid; meaning, evidently, that
human sagacity and worldly knowledge would stand confounded before it. That prophet, speaking in the name of
the Lord, gave as the reason for such an innovation: “This
people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips
do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me,
and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.”
(Isaiah 29:13, 14.) A brief yet comprehensive description
of the state of the religious world at the time of the advent
of UMormonism.n
Divine Authority
While the Book of Mormon was in course of translation, John the Baptist, as an angel from God, conferred upon
Joseph Smith and his scribe, Oliver Cowdery, the Aaronic
Priesthood, which holds the keys of outward ordinances
and ministers in temporal things. Subsequently the Melchizedek Priesthood, holding the keys of spiritual mysteries,
A CATHOLX
U-CE
9
and including the Aaronic as the greater includes the less,
was conferred upon them by three other heavenly messengers - the Apostles Peter, James and John. Thus empowered, the two young men, with four associates, organized
on the sixth of April, 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. This event took place at Fayette, Seneca
County, New York.
Thus was restored the Ancient Faith, with the powers
of the Eternal Priesthood, the delegated divine authority
that enables men to act as God’s representatives,
and without which no man can lawfully
administer the sacred ordinances of the Gospel. “No man taketh this honor unto
himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.”
(Heb. 5:4.) Thus was re-established
the true Church of
Christ, and the prophetic Ensign lifted for the gathering of
scattered Israel (Isaiah 11:12); an event preparatory
to
the Savior’s second coming.
A Catholic
Utterance
Many years ago a Ieamed man, a member of the Roman
Catholic Church, came to Utah and spoke from the stand of
the Salt Lake Tabernacle. I became well acquainted with
him, and we conversed freely and frankly. A great scholar,
with perhaps a dozen languages at his tongue’s end, he
seemed to know a.lI about theology, law, literature, science,
and philosophy.
One day he said to me: “You Mormons are
all ignoramuses. You don’t even know the strength of your
own position. It is SO strong that there is only one other
tenable in the whole Christian world, and that is the position
of the Cathohc Church. The issue is between Catholicism
and Mormonism.
If we are right, you are wrong; if you are
right, we are wrong; and that’s all there is to it. The
10
THE STRENGTH OF THE “MORMON” POSEION
Protestants haven’t a leg to stand on. For if we are wrong,
they are wrong with us, since they were a part of us and
went out from us; while if we are right, they are apostates
whom we cut off long ago. If we have the apostolic succession from St. Peter, as we claim, there was no need of
Joseph Smith and Mormonism;
but if we have not that succession, then such a man as Joseph Smith was necessary, and
Mormonism’s attitude is the only consistent one. It is either
the perpetuation
of the Gospel from ancient times, or the
restoration of the Gospel in latter days.”
My reply was substantially
as follows: “I agree with
you, Doctor, in nearly all that you have said. But don’t
deceive yourself with the notion that we ‘Mormons’
are
not aware of the strength of our position. We are better *
aware of it than anyone else. We have not all been to college; we cannot all speak the dead languages; we may be
‘ignoramuses’, as you say; but we know that we are right,
and we know that you are wrong.” I was just as frank with
him as he had been with me.
An Episcopal
View
At a later period I conversed with another man of culture, a bishop of the Episcopal Church. He affirmed that
if Joseph Smith, at the outset of his career, had become acquainted with the Episcopalians,
he would have been content and would have looked no further for spiritual light.
‘The trouble is,” said the Bishop, “Joseph encountered the
Methodists,
the Baptists, the Presbyterians
and others,
with their conflicting creeds and claims. These failing to
satisfy him, he sought elsewhere.
Now the Episcopalians
have an unbroken succession of authority all down the tenturies, and if Joseph Smith had become informed as to them,
THE RJUL
REASON
11
he would never have taken the trouble to organize another church.”
And these are some of the views that learned men take
of “Mormonism.”
With all their learning, they are not able
to come to a knowledge
of the truth. They do not begin to
dream of the greatness of God’s work, the grandeur of
Christ’s cause. They have no idea of the real strength of its
position.
They assume that Joseph Smith stumbled upon
something of which he did not know the true value, and
that it was sheer luck which gave to “Mormonism”
its vantage ground, its recognized strength of position. Never was
there a grosser error. There are concepts as much higher
than these, as the heavens are higher than the earth. The
‘Mormons”
are not the “ignoramuses”
when it comes to a
consideration of the Gospel’s mighty themes.
The Real Reason
Yet it is not because of human “smartness’‘-not
because the followers of Joseph Smith are brainier than other
people, that they have a greater knowledge
of God and are
capable of loftier ideals in religion.
It is because they
have received, through the gift of the Holy Ghost, a perceptive power, a spiritual
illumination
which the world,
with all its culture, does not possess, and without which no
man can know God or comprehend His purposes. It cannot
be had from books and schools. Colleges and universities
cannot impart it. It can come only in one way-God’s
way, not man’s. The Latter-day
Saints have it, not because of any greater natural ability than other men and
women possess, but because they have bowed in obedience
to the divine will, thus making themselves worthy to receive
this inestimable
boon. All mankind
may have it upon
precisely the same conditions.
12
THE STRENGTH OF THE “MOEWON” POSITION
Another
Objection
The Episcopal
Bishop whom I have mentioned
remarked to me on another occasion, that his main objection
to “Mormonism”
was that we “Mormons”
were not interested in anything going on outside of our own community.
He declared that we gave no credit to other peoples or to
other systems for the good they were accomplishing.
“For
instance,” said he, ‘we retranslate the Scriptures, making
them more plain, more intelligible,
with a view to enlightening mankind thereon; but you give us no credit for that. We
uncover ancient cities, buried civilizations,
here in America
and elsewhere; we decipher old-time inscriptions
on obelisks, in documents, etc., seeking to acquaint the present
with the past; but you put no value on such work. We found
hospitals and inhrmaries, maintain missions, carry the name
of Christ to the heathen, publish de Bible by millions of
copies, and are endeavoring to place one in every home. But
you take no account of these things; you are not interested in
our efforts; you think them all vain and of no worth.”
Not a Narrow
Religion
The remark surprised me. I was astonished that any
well informed person could entertain such an opinion respecting us and our religion. There may be such a thing as
a narrow “Mormon”;
there may be such a thing as a narrow
notion in the mind of some “Mormon”;
but there never
has been and there never will be such a thing as a narrow
“Mormonism.”
Far from ignoring what other peoples and
other systems are doing, it takes account of everything,
and assigns it to its proper place in the universal scheme.
“If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or
WHAT “MORMONISM”
STANDS FOR
13
praiseworthy,
we seek after these things.”
So says the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, in one of its
Articles of Faith.
“Mormonism”
is a much bigger thing than Catholic
scholars or Episcopal bishops imagine. It is the greatest
system of philosophy
that the world has ever known, the
grandest poem that Divine Genius ever created, the mightiest melody ever struck from the vibrant harps of Eternity. It is the sublime drama of all the ages, and the last
act is now on, the final scene about to unfold.
What
“Mormonism”
Stands For
“Mormonism”
stands for the restoration of the Gospel
in this dispensation;
but that is not all. It stands for the
Gospel itself in all the dispensations,
as those periods are
termed during which God has spoken to man and dispensed
from heaven these saving principles and powers. This is
but one of a number of such periods, reaching from the days
of Adam dpwn to the present time. The Gospel preached
by the ancient Twelve was a restored Gospel, just as much
as it is to-day. It had been upon Earth before the age of the
Apostles.
“Christianity,”
the faith of the once despised
“Christians,”
is now ‘Mormonism,”
the religion of the unpopular
“Mormons.”
What matter the names bestowed
upon it by men? Truth is not to be disposed of by pelting
it with epithets. The character of a jewel is not changed
by covering it with rubbish and dirt. A diamond is a cliamond, whether it sparkle in the dust at your feet, or glitter
in the diadem of a queen.
“Mormonism”
is not a product of the Nineteenth
Century.
Joseph Smith did not originate it, nor did any
other man. What is called “Mormonism”
is the Everlasting
14
THE STRENGTH
OF THE “MORMON” POSITION
Gospel, the religion of all the ages, God’s great plan for the
salvation of the human family; and not only their salvation,
but their exaltation if they obey it in fulness. The Gospel
has a three fold power; it redeems, saves, and glorifies. Redemption is resurrection, but that is not sufficient; it is not
enough that man be brought forth from the grave. All men,
good and bad, will be resurrected; but resurrection is not
salvation,
any more than salvation
is exaltation.
Many
redeemed from the grave will be condemned at the final
judgment, for evil deeds done in the body; and many will be
saved, yet come short of the glory that constitutes exaltation.
God’s greatest gift, eternal life, has been offered to
man again and again, in a series of dispensations of which
this is the greatest and the last. The “winding up scene,”
the final act of the play-such
is the dispensation
now
opened, wherein will be brought to a glorious finale the
whole of God’s mighty work pertaining to this planet; a work
begun at the very dawn of creation, and continued down to
this day. ‘That in the dispensation of the fulness of times
He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both
which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him.”
(Eph. 1:lO.)
The God Story
What is generally termed “The Gospel” relates to “the
laws and ordinances of the Gospel.” (See L.D.S. Articles
of Faith.) But the term in its broadest sense means far
more. The English word “Gospel” comes from the AngloSaxon “Godspell”
or God-Story.
Hence we have “the four
gospels”-Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John-all
narratives
of the Christ, but in reality only parts of the complete God
Story, which comprises the heavenly as well as the earthly
THE PATEI TO
hRFEClTON
15
career of our Redeemer.
Three personages compose the
Godhead-the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and it was the
second of these who became the Savior, “The Word” who
by St. John. (l:l-14.)
was ‘made flesh”, as mentioned
The Gospel in its fulness signifies everything connected with
Jesus Christ, past or present-the
Son’s entire career, from
the time he left his celestial throne, to the time he returned
thither, glorified with that glory which he had with the
Father before the world was. The Son is one with the Father
-not in person, but in power, will, wisdom, and authority.
He is God, but is called the Son of God because he came
forth from the Father to manifest in the flesh the ‘Yulness
of the Godhead bodily.”
The Path to Perfection
The Gospel had its origin before the foundation of the
world.
God, “finding he was in the midst of spirits and
glory, because he was more intelligent,
saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to advance like himself.” (Joseph Smith, “Times and Seasons,”
August 15, 1844.) The Gospel, therefore, is not a mere
fire-escape-a
way out of a perilous situation. It is a divine
plan for human progress, the Path to Perfection, and was
instituted as such before man was in a position to be redeemed or saved, before any such exigency had arisen. It
was established before Adam’s fall, and in the prospect of
that fall, which was a step in the onward march to the
eternal goal. “Adam fell that men might be” - that is,
mortal men; for by the fall those spirits in the midst of which
God found himself were to secure bodies and become souls,
capable of endless increase and advancement.
Adam did
that for the race; he gave us one of the most precious boons
16
THE STRENGTH OF THE “MORMON”
POSITION
that man can possess - a body, without which
would be imperfect and could not be exalted.
the spirit
But Adam could do no more, and a still greater boon
had to be given, in order that the fall might be effectual,
and the Gospel plan be made operative for the ends in view.
The machinery was ready, but the Power had to be turned
on. The fall had a twofold direction-downward,
yet forward; and though designed as a blessing, there was a penalty attached. Death came into the world-spiritual
and temporal death, eternal banishment from the Divine Presence;
and man’s progress would have halted then and there, would
have utterly and permanently
ceased, had not something
been done to lift him from his fallen state, and open the
way that he might go on to perfection.
Adam gave us earthly life; but the greater boon-eternal
life-is the gift of the
Redeemer
and Savior.
Descending
from his glorious
throne, he became mortal for man’s sake, and by dying
burst the bands of death, thus making eternal progression
possible.
Fall
and Redemption
Adam’s transgression was m&m prohibiturn, or wrong
because forbidden;
not m&m
in se, or wrong in itself. It
had a beneficent purpose, but it put the world in pawn, and
Death was the pawnbroker,
with a twofold claim upon all
creation. Adam could not redeem himself, and the human
race, which sprang from him, was likewise powerless.
No
part of what had been pledged could be used as the means
of redemption.
Something not subject to death was the required ransom. The life of a God was the price of the world’s
freedom; and that price was paid by the sinless One, the
Lamb -without
spot or blemish,” who made himself a re-
THE BRPX.IPLE
OF OBEDIENCE
demptive sacrifice, to mend the broken law, pay the
to justice, repoise the unbalanced
scale, and restore
equilibrium
of right. Christ, the World-Deliverer,
was
greater Moses, leading an enslaved universe out from
Egypt of sin, out from the bondage of death.
The Principle
17
debt
the
as a
the
of Obedience
In return for this mighty deliverance,
and in order to
perfect his work-to
save and glorify what he died to redeem, our Lord requires from us obedience, the great fundamental principle upon which all blessings are predicated,
and upon which alone they can be obtained. (Dot. and Cov.
130:20, 21.) This principle redeemed Adam from the Fall.
It is the only way whereby man can be redeemed. There is
but one path to God, and it is open to the peasant as well
as to the king. All secure salvation upon the same terms.
There is no royal road to heaven-no
favoritism.
There is
nothing so absolutely
democratic as the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. Every man may share it, but he must help to save
himself. He is in a pit and must come up out of it. A
ladder has been provided
and let down to him, and he
must climb that ladder, or he will never rise above his fallen
state, never re-enter the presence of God.
Round
by Round
The fist round of salvation’s ladder is faith in Jesus
Christ; the second, repentance, or turning away from sin;
third, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and
fourth, the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands
of men having divine authority.
But there are other rounds
to the ladder, other principles to be obeyed by those who
would attain the fulness of God’s glory. These principles
18
THE S~~ENGTI-I OF THE UM~~~~”
POSITION
have been revealed to man many times. But there is a
proneness in human nature to depart from the truth and
‘3urn to fables”; the “natural man” being “an enemy to
God.” And this has rendered necessary the various restorations of the Gospel.
Allinone
In order to understand “Mormonism”
aright, one must
grasp the idea of a series of Gospel dispensations,
interrelated and connected like the links of a mighty chain, extending through the whole course of time. The Dispensation of the Fulness of Times proposes to bring together and
weld into one de broken links of the Gospel chain. This was
the dominant thought in the mind of the Prophet Joseph
Smith as his last day on earth drew near. He expressed
it in these words:
“It is necessary, in the ushering in of the dispensation
of the fulness of times, * * * that a whole and complete
and perfect union and welding together of dispensations,
and keys, and powers, and glories should take place and be
revealed from the days of Adam even to the present time;
and not only this, but things which never have been revealed from the foundation of the world, but have been kept
hid from the wise and prudent, shall be revealed unto babes
and sucklings in this the dispensation
of the fulness of
times.” (Dot. & Cov. 128:18.)
“Mormonism”
is all-comprehensive.
It claims the
past and lays its hand upon the future. The past is necessary
to explain the present and the future. What Is cannot be
clearly understood without some knowledge
of What Has
Been and What Will Be. Accordingly,
the Spirit of Truth,
THE MISSION OF ELIJ~EI
manifesting
the things of God, “brings things
membrance,” and “shows things to come.”
The Mission
19
past to re-
of Elijah
“Mormonism”
signifies the restitution
of all things.
It stands for law and order-a
place for everything,
and
everything
in its place. This is the significance of the
mission of Elijah-the
turning of the hearts of the children to the fathers, lest earth be cursed and smitten at
the Savior’s coming. (Malachi
4:5, 6.) Past and present
are related; it is the relationship
of parent and child; and
they must be joined, in order that perfection may reign.
We cannot be made perfect without our ancestors, nor can
they be made perfect without us. Consequently
temples
are built by Gods people, and work done in them-vicarious
work, for and in behalf of the departed. Baptisms, endowments, marriages for eternity, in person or by proxy, are
prominent features of this sacred labor. Joseph Smith received the keys of Elijah (Dot. & Cov. 110:14-16), and ministered for the sealing of the present to the past, the union
of the living and the dead. It was the beginning
of the
restitution of all things.
Many
Gospel
Dispensations
“Mormonism”
is the religion that saved Adam. Adam,
therefore, was the original “Mormon.”
His religion was also
that of Enoch, of Noah, of Abraham, of Moses and Aaron,
and of the Apostles upon both hemispheres.
And it has
come back, in this final dispensation,
to bring together all
things that are Christ’s.
In the Pearl of Great Price, one of the four doctrinal
standards with the Latter-day Saints-the other three being
20
THE STRENCTH OF THE “MORMON”
POSITION
the Bible, the Book of Mormon,
and the Doctrine and
Covenants-we
are informed that Adam, after his fall, was
divinely
commanded
to build an altar and offer a lamb
thereon, typical of the Lamb of God who was to take away
the sin of the world. Already slain theoretically
in the heavens, where he had been chosen for his earthly mission, he
was yet to be slain literally upon this planet; and Adam was
told to look forward to that sacrificial event, and in the light
of it to practice the principles of salvation.
“And thus the Gospel began to be preached from the beginning, being declared by holy angels, sent forth from the
presence of God, and by his own voice, and by the gift of
the Holy Ghost. And thus all things were confirmed unto
Adam by a holy ordinance, and the gospel preached, and a
decree sent forth that it should be in the world until the
end thereof. And thus it was, Amen.” (Moses 5:58, 59.)
Joseph Smith “saw Adam in the valley of Adam-oncliAhman.” (Dot. & Cov. 116.) That is, he beheld him in
vision, retrospectively.
Bowed with age, the great Patriarch
blessed his posterity, foretelling
what should befall them to
the latest generation.
It was the mightiest
patriarchal
blessing ever given. Joseph affirms that Adam will come
again, will come as the Ancient of Days, and call his children
together at that very place, Adam-ondi-Ahman,
and hold
a council to prepare them for the coming of the Lord. Thus
is indicated the relationship between the First and the Final
Dispensations.
Adam presides over all the dispensations
(Church History, Vol. 4, pp. 207-209), and all must be
bound together in the great day of unity and restoration.
In Enoch’s day the Gospel was preached with such
power and success, that his City became sanctified and was
translated or taken into Heaven: a symbol, a foreshadow-
MANY GOSPEL DISPENSATIONS
21
ing of the greater Zion of the last days, which is to prepare
the way for the Lord’s glorious advent.
As part of the
universal
restitution,
that ancient city will return; Zion
from above will meet and blend with Zion from below, and a
social order prevail
similar to that which characterized
Enoch’s commonwealth,
concerning which it is written:
“And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of
one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness;
and
there was no poor among them.* (Moses 7:18.) Such a
condition must again be realized before the Lord comes.
“This is’ Zion-the
pure in heart”; “every man seeking the
interest of his neighbor, and doing all things with an eye
single to the glory of God.” (Dot. & Cov. 97:21; 82:19.)
Next we reckon with the dispensation
of Noah. He
preached the Gospel for a hundred and twenty years, but
saved only eight souls, including his own. All the rest were
swept away by the Deluge, their disembodied
spirits being
shut up in the prison house to await the due time of their deliverence.
(Moses 824.) The Savior said regardind
that
dispensation:
“‘As the days of Noe were, so shall also the
coming of the Son of Man be.” (Mat?. 24:37-39.)
In the
days of Noah this planet was baptized with water; in a
day to come it will be baptized with cleansing fire. Its
elements will melt with fervent heat; it will die and be
resurrected, or converted into a celestial sphere, an abode
of the righteous forever.
Such is the destiny of Mother
Earth. “Mormonism”
will not have accomplished
its mission until it has made of earth a Heaven, and of man a
God.
22
THE STRENGTH OF THE “MORMON” POSITION
The House
of Israel
Abraham held the keys of a dispensation,
and Elias
delivered those keys to Joseph the Prophet (Dot. & Cov.
110:12.) Abraham is “‘the father of the faithful.”
Through
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, those great progenitors
of the
House of Israel, the world has been sprinkled with believing
blood, and spirits answering to that blood have been sent
through their lineage to minister for the salvation of mankind. This is the reason-the
main reason why Israel was
dispersed among the nations, and why he still suffers persecution. Through that chosen seed comes salvation, and
it comes by no other route. It is the lineage of the one and
only Savior. They who have scattered Israel, and trampled
him in the dust, are dependent upon him for their eternal
welfare.
Christ himself is the model. He died that the
human race might live, “Greater love than this hath no
man, that he will lay down his life for his friends.” More
than man is he who lays down his life for his enemies. The
Son of God died not only for his friends, but for his foes, that
salvation might come to all. In a lesser degree the House of
Israel has been martyred for a similar purpose-that
the
whole world might be blessed.
The Latter-day Saints are numbered among Abraham’s
descendants. The first to embrace the restored Gospel were
called out from the nations because they had his blood in
their veins. Joseph Smith lifted the Ensign for the gathering
of scattered Israel, but lived only long enough to assemble a
portion of the half tribe of Ephraim, to which he belonged.
The work that he commenced, however, will go on until all
de tribes of Israel are gathered and the way prepared
before the coming of the Son of God.
‘?kIE
SHOULDERS
OF THE -=
23
“The Shoulders of the Philistines”
Ephraim, in ancient times, “mixed himself among the
people.” (Hosea 7:B.) Consequently
the Latter-day
Saints,
who are mostly of Ephraim, also have “Gentile” blood in
their veins. “Gentile” is not a term of reproach with us. It
springs from “gent&,”
meaning “of a nation,” and was
used anciently to designate those nations that were not of
Israel. Japhetb, son of Noah, is the sire of the “Gentile”
race, while Abraham and his seed are descended from Japh
eth’s brother Shem. We “Mormons”
have no quarrel with
the “Gentiles.”
They are virtually
our co-laborers in this
great work of preparation.
We cannot do it alone. It is too
vast, too arduous.
We need the help of the “Gentiles,”
their wealth, their power, their wonderful
insight into and
command over material things, their intelligence
and skill
in manipulating
temporalities.
We need their means of
rapid transit and communication.
We could not gather
God’s people without
the aid of the “Gentiles.”
“They
shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the
West.” So wrote Isaiah concerning Israel, with prophetic
eye upon this very period. “The shoulders of the Philistines”
are the ships and railroads of the “Gentiles.”
Our friends on tbe outside-our
fellow “Gentiles” shall
I call them?-have
not always understood us, nor have we
always understood them. There has been much bitterness
and estrangement between the two classes. I am convinced
that if the “Gentiles” knew us better, and we more fully
realized our relationship
to them, all would feel kinder and
more charitable.
We would recognize that we are engaged
in the same great cause-for so we are, in a general wayand that we have no right to hate each other, no right to
work against each other-that
is, when in the line of our
duty, doing what God has given us to do.
24
THE STRENGTH OF THE “MORMON”
POSITION
The “Gentiles” have not the fulness of the Gospel, nor
the powers of the Priesthood; they are not the oracles of
God, nor the ministers of salvation. These are prerogatives
of the House of Israel. But the children of Japheth doubtless
have their special mission, and it is a part of the divine plan
for human progression.
This is God’s work, and he is
doing it in his own way. He has instruments
outside as
well as inside the Church. Whether men know it or not,
they are working out the ends he has in view. He may not
always notify them of their appointment
to serve him, nor
does he ask permission to use them; but he uses them just
the same. We are here not only to act, but to be acted upon
The Lord put his spirit upon Columbus and impelled him
across the great waters to discover the Land of Zion. He
nerved the arm and fired the soul of Washington, when he
and his ragged regiments were fighting for freedom, for independence, for the founding of a government-though
they
knew it not-under
which God’s work could come forth and
not be crushed out by the tyranny of man. The God of
Israel was with those “Gentiles,” the founders of the American Republic, who were probably of a mired lineage, having much of the blood of Israel in their veins. And He is with
all good and great men whose hearts are set to do right and
to uplift humanity.
He is with them, whether they recognize it or not. Their strength is a part of his omnipotence.
Moses and the Gathering
Moses, who led Israel out of Egypt, held the keys for the
gathering of God’s people; and those keys had to be restored,
that there might be a greater gathering, of which the Egyptian exodus was typical. Moses, as a ministering angel, delivered to Joseph Smith the keys of the Gathering, (Doe.
& Cov. 11O:ll.) But for this, the children of Ephraim, such
Moses
ANI) THE GATHEXLNG
2s
as are now Latter-day
Saints, would still be in Babylon,
many of them in distant lauds, from which they have come
like sheep at the call of the Shepherd.
Moses had a dispensation of the Gospel, and sought to.sauctify his people
that they might look upon the face of God, as he had done.
But they were not prepared for it; and so Moses was taken,
with the Melchizedek
Priesthood and the fulness of the Gospel (Dot. & Cov. 84:19-28), and Israel was left for fifteen
centuries under the Aaronic Priesthood and the Lesser Law,
which Paul likened unto a schoolmaster, to bring them to
Christ.
In due time came the Savior and the Meridian Dispensation. Twelve Apostles were chosen upon the Eastern
Hemisphere, and Twelve upon the Western, and sent forth
to preach the Gospel as a witness before the end. And the
end came-the
end decreed at that time-the
downfall
of
the Jewish commonwealth,
and later the destruction of the
Nephite nation. Those terrible calamities were typical of
one more terrible still-the
downfall
of all wickedness, the
approaching End of de World.
And now, after de lapse of nearly two thousand years,
the Gospel and the Priesthood have come back again. Once
more, the pure word of God is going forth, this time as the
immediate forerunner
of the decreed Consummation.
“Mormonism”
means far more than the restoration of
the Gospel at the beginning of the Nineteenth Century, Such
a definition, such a presentation
of the subject would be
manifestly imperfect. Ignorant indeed would be that ‘Mormon” who confined his thiuking to so narrow a field. “Mormonism” is not a mere sect among sects, one more broken
off fragment of a degenerate and crumbling
Christianity.
It is the pure, primitive
Christianity
restored-the
original
26
THE STRENGTH OF THE “MORMON” POS&ION
faith, the root of all religion; and it was not accident,
design, that gave it the strength of its position.
Alma’s
but
Aspiration
Let me now cl;ote a passage from the Book of Mormon,
the words of the Nephite prophet Alma, who lived about
seventy-five years before the birth of the Savior:
“0 that I were an angel, and could have the wish of
mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump
of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance
unto every people!
Tea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice
of thunder, repentance, and the plan of redemption,
that
they should repent and come unto our God, that there might
not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.
“But behold, I am a man, and do sin in my wish; for
I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath
allotted unto me.
“I ought not to harrow up in my desires the firm decree
of a just God, for I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life; yea,
I know that he alloweth unto men according to their wills,
whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction.
“Yea, and I know that good and evil have come before
all men; he that knoweth not good from evil is blameless;
but he that knoweth good and evil, to him it is given according to his desires, whether he desireth good or evil, life
or death, joy or remorse of conscience.
“Now, seeing that I know these things, why should I
desire more than to perform the work to which I have been
called?
Why should I desire that I were an angel, that I could
speak unto all the ends of the earth?
U’s
ASPIUTIONS
27
“For behold, the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of
their own nation and tongue, to teach his word, yea, in
wisdom, all that he seeth fit that they should have; therefore we see that the Lord doth counsel in wisdom, according
to that which is just and true.
“I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and
I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that
which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my
glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of
God, to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.’
(Alma 29:1-9.)
Does that sound as if “Mormonism”
took no cogni.
zance of what is going on in the outside world? How can
any intelligent
reader arise from a study of the “Mormon”
religion, honestly convinced that the Latter-day Saints are
interested in nothing beyond the bounds of their own system? That one passage from the Book of Mormon s&ices
to refute the false notion.
“Of Their Own Nation and Tongue”
God’s truth has been taught all down the ages by men
bearing the Priesthood, the authority to represent Deity.
But other men, not bearing that authority, wise and worthy
teachers, have been raised up in various nations to give
them that measure of truth which they were able to receive.
Hence, such men as Confucius, the Chinese sage; Zoroaster,
the Persian; and Gautama of the Hindus; men not wielding
divine authority,
not empowered
to present the Gospel,
nor to officiate in its ordinances; but nevertheless endowed
with wisdom, with profundity
of thought and learning, to
deliver, each to his own people, that portion of truth which
the all-wise Dispenser sees fit that they should have; people
who, if given a fulness of the truth, might trample it under
28
THE grnnmxrr
OF THE
“MORMON=
POSXTION
foot to their condemnation.
Therefore they ‘die without
law” (Doe. & Cov. 76:72); that is, without the higher law,
the Gospel, which, however, will reach after them in a future life.
The world’s poets and philosophers,
artists and musicians, scientists, discoverers, warriors and statesmen, good
and great characters in general-all
have their work and
mission under an over-ruling
Providence.
If some of God’s
children are not worthy of the fulness of Truth, and would
not make a wise use of it were it sent to them, that is no
reason why they should not be given as much truth as they
can wisely use?
The Case of Islam
Carlyle, in splendid phrasing, presents this view most
strikingly, in his vivid portrayal of the coming of Mahomet
to the Arabs, who were thus converted from idolatry, the
worship of “sticks and stones,” to de worship of one godAllah, with Mahomet as his prophet:
“To the Arab Nation it was as a birth from darkness into
light; Arabia first became alive by means of it. A poor
shepherd people, roaming unnoticed in its deserts since the
creation of the world: A Hero-Prophet
was sent down to
them with a word they could believe: see, the unnoticed
becomes world-notable,
the small has grown world great;
within one century afterwards,
Arabia is at Grenada on
this hand, at Delhi on that;-glancing
in valor and splendor
and the light of genius, Arabia shines through long ages over
a great section of the world. Belief is great, life-giving. The
history of a Nation becomes fruitful, soul-elevating,
great,
so soon as it believes. These Arabs, the man Mahomet, and
that one century,-is
it not as if a spark had fallen, one
spark, on a world of what seemed black unnoticeable
sand;
PRESIIXNT SMITH’s PRONOUNCEMJDJT
29
but lo, the sand proves explosive powder, blazes heavenhigh from Delhi to Grenada! I said, the Great Man was always as lightning out of Heaven; the rest of men waited for
him like fuel, and then they too would flame.“-Heroes
and
Hero Worship-Lecture
II, p. 306.
President Smith’s Pronouncement
President Joseph F. Smith, until recently the head of
Gods Church on earth, touched in a discourse the general
theme here under consideration.
Said he:
“Knowledge
is increasing throughout
the world, with
reference to material things; and all this knowledge that has
been restored to the world through science has been inspired
of God. * * * The men who are led to wonderful
discoveries
are inspired by the spirit of understanding
that cometh
from God, that giveth them light and knowledge.
* * * So,
Latter-day
Saints acknowledge
those men who discovered
how to control the lightning, how to control and utilize the
power of steam that prevails So universally
among men today, and all those who have discovered all the other secrets
of nature, like the telegraph, the telephone, and all other
means of communication
by which the voice of men may be
conveyed over a wire and now, of later times, through the
atmosphere by means of wireless communication-all
these
discoveries are by the promptings of the Spirit of God that
giveth to the mind and spirit of men understanding.”
(Improvement Era, July, 1917.)
President Smith, however, drew a distinction, as do all
orthodox preachers of “Mormonism,”
between the light that
illumines, in greater or less degree, every soul that comes
into the world, and the Holy Ghost as a personage, the third
in the Godhead. He also differentiated
the universal divine
spirit, enjoyed to some extent by all men, from the gift of
30
THE STAENGTH OF THE “MOWON”
the Holy Ghost, a special endowment
members of the Church of Christ.
POS~ON
reserved
for the
The Poet’s Mission
An American poet, Doctor J. G. Holland,
has this to
say of the poet and his mission: “The poets of the world
are the prophets of humanity. They forever reach after and
foresee the ultimate good. They are evermore building the
Paradise that it is to be, painting the Millennium
that is to
come. When the world shall reach the poet’s ideal, it will
arrive at perfection; and much good will it do the world to
measure itself by this ideal and struggle to lift the real to
its lofty level.”
In the light of such a noble utterance, how paltry the
ordinary concept of the poet as a mere verse builder.
His
true mission is to lift up the ideal and encourage the real
to advance towards it and eventually attain perfection. The
poet, in this age of money worship, is often ridiculed as a
“‘dreamer”; but the ridicule, when applied to a genuine
son of song, is pointless. The poet is a dreamer; but so is
the architect, and the projector of railroads. If there were
no dreamers, there would be no builders; if there were no
poets, there would be no progress. Poets are prophets of a
lesser degree, and the prophets are the mightiest of the
poets. They hold the key to the symbolism of the universe,
and they alone are qualified to interpret it. There are plenty
of rhymesters who are neither poets nor prophets, and there
are poets and prophets who never build a verse, nor make
a rhyme.
Rhyme is no essential element of poetry. Versiiication
is an art employed by the poet to make his thought more
attractive,
The rhyme helps the sentiment to reach the
heart. A musical instrument,
say a piano or an organ, is
THE Porn% MISION
31
painted and gilded, not to improve its musical powers, but
to make it beautiful to the eye, while its music appeals to
the ear and charms the soul. Rhyme has about the same
relation to poetry as paint or gold leaf to the organ or piano,
and no more.
The essence of poetry is in its idealism. God has built
his universe upon symbols, the lesser suggesting and leading
up to the greater; and the poetic faculty, possessed by the
prophet in fulness, recognizes and interprets it. All creations testify of their creator. They point to something above
and beyond. That is why poetry of the highest order is
always prophetic, or infinitely suggestive; and that is why
the poet is a prophet, and why there is such a thing as
poetic prose.
A thing is poetic when it suggests something greater
than itself. Man, fashioned in the divine image, suggests
God, and is therefore “a symbol of God,” as Carlyle affirms.
But Joseph Smith goes further. He declares God to be “an
exalted Man.” To narrow minds this is blasphemy; but to
the broad-minded
it is poetry-poetry
of the sublimest type.
In the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, what is there
of sacred efficacy in the bread and water, taken alone?
There is not water enough in the ocean, nor bread enough
in all the bakeries of the world, to constitute the Lord’s
Supper, All that makes it effective as a sacrament is the
blessing pronounced
upon it by the priesthood,
and the
symbolism whereby those elements are made to represent
something greater than themselves, namely, the body and
blood of the Savior. What is done then becomes a holy
ordinance, full of force and effect, a poem in action.
The same is true of baptism.
Jesus said: “Except a
man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into
32
THE STRENGTH OF THE “MORMON”
POSITION
the Kingdom of God.” He meant baptism, which symbolizes
birth or begetting.
The priest when baptizing performs in
a mystical or spiritual
way the function
of fatherhood.
Motherhood
is symbolized
by the baptismal font. “Children of my begetting,” is a phrase used by the ancient apostles to characterize their converts, who are also referred to
as “babes in Christ,” fed upon “the milk of the word.”
Paul says, concerning baptism: ‘We are buried with Him
by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4.) This shows
that baptism, when properly administered,
is a symbol of
burial and resurrection-rebirth.
But the symbolism must
be perfect or the ordinance is void. To sprinkle or pour
water upon the candidate for baptism, destroys the symbolism, or the poetry of the ordinance. It does not represent
a birth-a
burial and a resurrection.
When the body is
immersed, however,-and
that is the meaning of the Greek
term to baptize-descent
into the grave is typified; and
when the body is brought up out of the water, birth or coming forth from the grave is symbolized.
To be baptized or
resurrected is equivalent
to being ‘born again.” The soul,
cleansed from sin, is typical of the soul raised to immortality. Such is the poetry of baptism and tbe resurrection,
Jesus Christ, the greatest of all prophets, was likewise
the greatest of all poets. He comprehended
the universe
and its symbolism as no one else ever did, and he taught in
poetic parables, taking simple things as types, and teaching
lessons that lead the mind upward and onward toward the
ideal, toward perfection. We must not despise poetry; it
is indispensable,
even in practical a&irs.
The Gospel of
Christ is replete with poetry. None but the ignorant pass
it by as a thing of naught.
WHAT
OF
&ILOSOF’HY?
33
What of Philosophy?
Philosophy
is “the account which the human mind
gives to itself of the constitution
of the world.”
So says
that great modem philosopher,
Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Here is a passage from Plato the Greek, as translated by
Emerson the American:
“Let us declare the cause which
led the Supreme Ordainer to produce and compose the universe. He was good; and he who is good has no kind of
envy. Exempt from envy, he wished that all things should
be as much as possible like himself. Whosoever, taught by
wise men, shall admit this’as tbe prime cause of the origin
and foundation of the world, will be in the truth.“-Representative Men, Lecture II.
Very similar to this, is that utterance of Joseph Smith’s
giving the origin and purpose of the Gospel. (See paragraph
“Path to Perfection”;
also The Book of Abraham”
3:2226.) But Joseph did. not get his philosophy
from Plato;
‘he had it directly from God, the source of Plato’s inspiration, There is no plagiarism in this semi-paralleling
of a
sublime thought. Confucius taught, in a negative way, the
Golden Rule, afterwards
taught affirmatively
and more
fully by Jesus of Nazareth.
“Truth is truth, where’er ‘tis found,
On Christian or on heathen ground;”
And whether uttered by an ancient sage or by a modem seer,
it is worthy of all acceptance. I have mentioned Emerson.
Here is a sample of that great writer’s wisdom:
‘Our strength grows out of our weakness.
Not until
we are pricked and stung and sorely shot at, awakens the
indignation
which arms itself with secret forces. A great
man is always willing to be little. While he sits on the cushion of advantages he goes to sleep. When he is pushed, tormented defeated, he has a chance to learn something; he
34
THE STRENGTH OF THE “MORMON” POSITION
has been put on his wits, on his manhood; he has gained
facts; learns his ignorance; is cured of the insanity of conceit; has got moderation and real skill. Blame is safer than
praise. I hate to be defeated in a newspaper.
As long as
all that is said is said against me, I feel a certain assurance
of success, but as soon as honeyed words of praise are spoken
for me I feel as one that lies unprotected before his enemies.
In general, every evil to which we do not succumb, is a
benefactor.”
‘The history of persecution is a history of endeavors to
cheat nature, to make water run up hill, to twist a rope of
sand. The martyr cannot be dishonored.
Every lash inflicted is a tongue of flame; every prison a more illustrious
abode; every burned book or house enlightens the world;
every suppressed or expunged word reverberates
through
the earth from side to side. The minds of men are at last
aroused; reason looks out and justifies her own, and malice
linds all her work vain. It is the whipper who is whipped
and the tyrant who is undone.
“Such, also, is the natural history of calamity.
The
changes which break up at short intervals the prosperity of
men, are advertisements
of a nature whose law is growth.
Evermore it is the order of nature to grow. * * We cannot
part with our friends. We cannot let our angels go. We do
not see that they only go out, that archangels may come in.
We are idolaters of the old. * * We do not believe there
is any force in to-day to rival or recreate that beautiful
yesterday. * *
“And yet de compensations
of calamity are made apparent to the understanding
also, after long intervals of
time. A fever, a mutilation,
a cruel disappointment,
a
loss of wealth, a loss of friends seems at the moment unpaid
THE POWER OF MUSIC-SEEING FOR ONE’S SELF
35
loss, and unpayable.
But the sure years reveal the deep
remedial force that underlies all facts. The death of a dear
friend, wife, brother, lover, which seemed nothing but privation, somewhat later assumes the aspect of a guide or
genius; for it commonly operates revolutions
in our way of
life, terminates an epoch of infancy or of youth which was
waiting to be closed, breaks up a wonted occupation, or a
household, or style of living, and allows the formation of
new ones more friendly to the growth of character. It permits or constrains the formation of new acquaintances and
the reception of new influences that prove of the first importance to the next years; and the man or woman who
would have remained a su~y garden flower, with no room
for its roots and too much sunshine for its head, by the falling of the walls and the neglect of the gardener, is made the
banyan of the forest, yielding shade and fruit to wide neighborhoods of men.--Essay
III, Compensation.
Poetry and philosophy
appeal to some, when the Gospel in its fulness might offend; “the meat of the word”
being too strong for them. The plain blunt message of the
man of God, who comes proclaiming,
‘Thus saith the Lord,”
antagonizes many. They turn from it; but will listen to the
philosopher,
with his clear, delightful
reasoning, or to the
poet, with his apt and appealing
illustrations.
All kinds
of teachers go before the prophet, preparing his way, or
come after him, confirming
his testimony.
And the sum
of it all will be the betterment
and eventual salvation of
the race.
The Power of Music-Seeing
for One’s Self
Music softens the heart, and helps men and women to
receive the Gospel. Tourists come in a constant stream,
to listen to the wonderful
tones of the great organ and the
36
THE S-~ENGTH OF THE “MORMONS POSITION
singing of the splendid choir in the Salt Lake Tabernacle.
The Gospel is not always preached to them; they do not
always want the Gospel; but they are mellowed
by the
music, and they go away with kinder feelings toward, and
a better understanding
of, the people who build such instruments, who organize such choirs, and rear such structures.
Their works speak for them. Grapes are not gathered from
thorns, nor figs from thistles. Depraved wretches, such as
the “Mormons”
are falsely represented to be, do not love
music, poetry and philosophy, do not cultivate the arts and
sciences, do not turn deserts into gardens, nor rear Tabernacles and Temples unto God.
I well remember when President Grant came to Utahthe first President of the United States to set foot within the
Territory, now a State. It was at a time when, all over this
broad land, the bitterest prejudice prevailed
against the
Latter-day Saints; and it was freely asserted that the man
who had &shed
with the South, would “make short work
of Utah and the Mormons.”
Among the places visited by
the President and his party while in Salt Lake City, was
the Tabernacle, where they heard the great organ. I do not
know what he thought of it, but Mrs. Grant, her face streaming with tears, turned to Captain Hooper, who had been
Utah’s delegate in Congress, and said with deep feeling:
“I wish I could do something for these good Mormon people.” The music had touched her heart, and perhaps the
heart of her noble husband; for General Grant was noble,
though yielding at times to strong prejudice.
Before reaching the Tabernacle, he had passed up South
Temple Street, lined on both sides with Sunday School children, neatly and tastefully attired, waving banners and mottoes of welcome to the Nation’s Chief. Riding in an open
I
THE POWER OF MUSIC-SEEING
FOR ONE’S SELF
37
carriage, and running the gauntlet of applause and cheers,
the honored guest turned to Governor Emery, who sat at
his side, and inquired concerning the juvenile host: “What
children are these?” “Mormon
children,”
replied Emery.
Grant was silent for a moment, and then was heard to murmur, “I have been deceived.”
But he never was deceived again-not
in the same way.
He could trust his eyes when he looked upon those beautiful
children: they were not the product of crime and depravity,
He could trust
not the offspring of savages and criminals.
his ears, too, when he heard that choir and organ. No one
could make him believe, after that, that the “Mormons”
were as black as they had.been painted.
No Substitute for the Gospel
There is more than one way to reach the human heart,
and God has legitimate use for everything good, wise, virtuous and praiseworthy.
Let it not be supposed, however,
that music, poetry, painting, sculpture, philosophy, science,
or anything else, can take the place of the Divine Plan
whereby He proposes to save this world, as He has saved
millions of worlds like it. He will use everything good and
true and beautiful
to melt the hearts of his children and
prepare them for salvation; but salvation itself comes only
by one route-the
Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
the Great Ideal, and it must be honored as such. In dealing
with it, no Procrustean process is permissible.
It must not
be chopped off because men think it too long, nor stretched
out because they deem it too short. God did not send his
Truth into the world to be mutilated.
Men’s theories, however plausible,
cannot supersede divine revelation.
The
gifts of God, however precious, are no standard by which to
judge the Giver. The Truth as Heaven reveals it is the
38
THE STRENGTH OF THE “MORMON” POS~ON
Standard, and the opinions
way. There is no substitute
Propositions
and theories of men must give
for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
to be Reconciled
Referring now to a passage previously
quoted, concerning the days of Adam, when a decree went forth that
the Gospel should be in the world “until the end thereof.”
I was once asked to reconcile that passage with the idea of
a new dispensation,
the question coming in this form: “If
the Gospel was to be in the world from the days of Adam
‘until the end,’ what was the need of restoring it-bringing
it back again?”
There are two ways of reconciling these propositions.
They do not really contradict each other. The Gospel has
been in the world from the beginning by a series of dispensations, reaching through the entire range of human history.
Our finite minds are prone to tangle themselves up in little
details that cause endless quibbles and often give us a great
deal of trouble; but God sweeps the whole universe with his
in&rite gaze, and what seem mountains to men are less than
mole-hills in his sight. The gaps between the Gospel dispensations are not so wide to Deity as they are to us. The
Lord has found it necessary at different times to temporarily
withdraw
the Gospel and the Priesthood from the midst of
men; and yet, by repeated restorations, forming a continuous
chain of dispensations, he has kept them in the world from
the beginning down to the present, thus making good his
ancient decree.
A Twofold
Creation
But there is more to this argument.
God’s works are
two-fold, firstly spiritual, secondly temporal; and the most
important part of creation is the spiritual part. Man and
A TWOFOLD CREATION
39
woman were made first as spirits, and the same is true of
earth and all that it contains-beasts,
birds, fishes, trees,
plants and flowers; in short, all created things. (Moses
3:4-g.) Given bodies, they become souls-not
all human
souls, but souls nevertheless;
for the spirit and the body
constitute the soul. It is the soul that is redeemed and
glorified.
The spirit alone cannot advance that far it can
live without the body, but the body without the spirit is
dead. Evidently,
therefore,
the spirit is the more important. What wonder? God created the spirit; but when
it came to creating the body-bodies
in general-He
delegated to man that portion of His work. Man can make
the body of man, and can destroy it; but cannot destroy
the spirit, it is beyond his power.
Now the planet upon which we dwell has a spirit.
Hence there is a Spirit World; and there the Gospel has
been preached for ages so that the dead, or the departedfor they are no more dead than we are-might
have opportunity to embrace it and be “judged according to men in the
flesh.” (I Peter 4:6.) And the withdrawal
of the Gospel from
the temporal world would not necessarily involve its withdrawal from the spiritual world. Thus the divine decree, that
the Gospel should se in the world “until the end thereof,
receives additional vindication.
God’s word cannot fail.
The World
of Spirits
“The Spirit World,” says Parley P. Pratt, “is not the
heaven where Jesus Christ, His Father, and other beings
dwell, who have, by resurrection or tradition, ascended to
eternal mansions and been crowned and seated on thrones
of power; but it is an intermediate
state, a probation,
a
place of preparation,
improvement,
instruction,
or education, where spirits are chastened or improved, and where,
40
THE STRENGTH OF THE “MORMON”
POSITION
if found worthy, they may be taught a knowledge
of the
Gospel. In short, it is a place where the Gospel is preached,
and where faith, repentance, hope and charity may be exercised, a place of waiting for the resurrection or redemption
of the body; while, to those who deserve it, it is a place of
punishment, or purgatory or hell, where spirits are buffeted
till the day of redemption.
As to its location, it is here on
the very planet where we were born.” (Key to Theology,
Chapter 14. Compare Alma 40:11-14.)
Joseph Smith tells us that ,our departed friends are
very near to us. We need not sail off into space to be in the
spirit world. We have only to pass out of the body; for the
spirit world is right around us. Parley continues:
“The earth and other planets of a like order have their
inward or spiritual spheres, as well as their outward or temporal. The one is peopled by temporal tabernacles, and the
other by spirits. In this spirit world there are all the varieties
and grades of intellectual
beings which exist in the present
world. For instance, Jesus Christ and the thief on the cross
both went to the same place, and found themselves associated in the spirit world.”
Jesus, it will be borne in mind, had been crucified between two thieves, one of whom derided him, insulting his
dying agonies. The other, being penitent, prayed: “Lord,
remember me when thou comest into they kingdom.”
To
him the Savior said: To-day
thou shalt be with me in
Paradise.” Because of this utterance, well meaning though
uninspired minds have jumped to the conclusion that the
penitent thief was promised immediate heavenly exaltation,
for repenting at the last moment and professing faith in the
Redeemer, And this notion is still entertained.
The criminal who has forfeited his life and is under sentence of death
c
THEi
WORLD
OF
!hBlTS
41
because unfit to dwell among his fallen fellow creatures, is
made to believe that by confessing Christ even upon the
scaffold, he is fitted at once for the society of Gods and
Angels, and will be wafted to eternal bliss. Jesus never
taught such a doctrine, nor did any authorized servant of
God. It is a man-made theory, based upon faulty inference
and misinterpretation.
The Bible plainly teaches that men
will be judged according to their works. (Rev. 20~12-13.)
It was best for the thief, of course, to repent even at the
eleventh hour; but he could not be exalted until prepared
for it, if it took a thousand years. Jesus Christ and the thief
both went to the world of spirits, a place of rest for the
righteous, a place of correction for the wicked. Parley goes
on to say:
“But the One was there in all the intelligence,
happiness, benevolence
and charity which characterized a teacher, a messenger anointed to preach glad tidings to the meek,
to bind up the broken-hearted,
to comfort those who
mourned, to preach deliverance to the captive, and open the
prison to those who were bound; or, in other words, to
preach the Gospel to the spirits in prison, that they might be
judged according to men in the flesh; while the other was
there as a thief, who had expired on the cross for crime, and
who was guilty, ignorant, uncultivated,
and unprepared for
resurrection, having need of remission of sins and to be instructed in the science of salvation.
“In de world of spirits there are Apostles, Prophets,
Elders, and members of the Church of the Saints, holding
keys of priesthood, and power to teach, comfort, instruct and
proclaim the Gospel to their fellow spirits, after the pattern
of Jesus Christ.
“In the same world there are also the spirits of Catho-
42
j
THE STRENGTH OF TEDI “MORMON*
POSITION
lies, and Protestants of every sect, who have all need to be
taught and to come to de knowledge
of the true unchangeable gospel in its fulness and simplicity, that they may be
judged the same as if they had been privileged
with the
same in the flesh.
“There is also the Jew, the Mahometan,
the infidel,
who did not believe in Christ while in the %esh. All these
must be taught, must come to the knowledge
of the
cruci%ed and risen Redeemer, and hear the glad tidings of
the Gospel.
“There are also all the varieties of the heathen spirits;
the noble and re%ned philosopher,
poet, patriot, or statesman of Rome or Greece, the enlightened ‘Socrates and
Plato, and their like, together with every grade of spirits,
down to the most uncultivated
of the savage world.
“All these must be taught, enlightened,
and must bow
the knee to the eternal King, for the decree hath gone forth,
that unto Him every knee shall bow and every tongue
confess.
“‘Oh, what a field of labor, of benevolence, of missionary
enterprise now opens to the apostles and elders of the
Church of the Saints1 As this field opens they will begin
to realize more fully the extent of their divine mission, and
the meaning of the great command to ‘preach the gospel to
every creature.’ n
Parley P. Pratt, a modern Apostle, was a friend and
follower of Joseph Smith. He sat at the feet of Joseph, as
Paul at the feet of Gamaliel.
These are Joseph’s doctrines,
the doctrines of “Mormonism,”
which stands for the Gospel
in all the ages, and for the salvation of the living and the
dead. God will judge no man for an opportunity
that he
never possessed. Faith and repentance are just as possible
and just as effectual in the spirit world as they are in this
THE WORLD
OF
43
th%~s
sphere. But the ordinance of baptism-immersion
in water
for the remission of sins, and the laying on of hands for the
gift of the Holy Ghost-with
other sacred ceremonies, must
be done here, in places dedicated for the purpose. This
vicarious work is absolutely
essential, in order that the
departed may be duly admitted into the Church of Christ
and share in all its blessings.
The Hell
of Dante
In the Thirteenth Century a great Italian poet, the immortal Dante, produced a wonderful work, Za Divina Comedia” (“The Divine Comedy”).
In one part of the poem,
the author represents himself as passing through Hades or
Hell.
In the first circle of the infernal depths-a
region
called “Limbo,” which a footnote in my copy of the poem
describes as a place “containing
the souls of unbaptized
children and of those virtuous men and women who lived
before the birth of our Savior”-he
meets some of the noble
characters whom the Apostle Parley mentions as inhabiting
the Spirit World, and the guide says to him:
- “Inquirest thou not what spirits
Are these, which thou beholdest? Ere thou pass
Farther, I would thou know, that these of sin
Were blameless; and if aught they merited,
It profits not, since baptism was not theirs,
The portal to thy faith. If they before
The Gospel lived, they served not God aright;
And among such am I. For these defects
And for no other evil, we are lost;
Only so far afflicted, that we live
Desiring without hope.“-Hell,
Canto IV, Lines 29-39,
And
this
was all that
Thirteenth
Century
theology
44
TKE STRENGTH OF m
“MORMON”
POSITION
could say for such men as Homer, Virgil, Plato, Aristotle
and others, the best and brightest spirits of their times!
.
According to Their Works
Was it not imperative
that the Heavens should again
open and God’s Word go forth once more upon its mission
of justice and mercy? The Gospel of Christ is consistent and
reasonable.
It does not pre-judge men, nor save nor damn
them regardless of merit or demerit. Rewarding all according to their works, it gives to every creature, living or dead,
a chance to accept or reject it, before final judgment.
Is
it not evident that Joseph Smith and “Mormonism”
were
indeed a necessity at the dawn of the Nineteenth Century,
when even the Christian world had lost the knowledge
of
the true God, proclaiming
him either a nonentity incapable
of act or utterance, or a monster unmerciful
and unjust?
i
I
Sons of Perdition
God is not trying to damn the world, but to save it.
All will be saved except *the sons of perdition,” those who
have had every opportunity
to be saved-yes,
saved and
exalted.
They who have known God, and have “tasted
of the powers of the world to come,” and then have thrown it
all away, trampling
upon the Truth as a thing of naught,
denying the Holy Ghost, and “crucifying the Lord afresh”;these cannot be saved, for salvation is predicated upon repentance, and such have sinned away the power to repent.
This is what makes their case hopeless. But comparatively
few go that far. All the rest will be saved, and eventually
glorified.
Different Degrees of Glory
There are different degrees of glory-a glory of the sun,
a glory of the moon, and a glory of the stars. So Paul
SONS
OF
hRLXTION
45
taught (I Cor. 15:40-42); and Joseph Smith taught it even
more plainly. (Dot. & Cov. 76.) They who inherit celestial glory, of which the sun iri the firmament is typical, are
they who receive the Gospel in this life, and are valiant for
it and endure to the end, giving to God the fulness of their
obedience. They who inherit terrestrial glory, which differs
from the celestial as the moon differs from the sun, are
they who receive not the Gospel here, but afterwards
receive it; souls not valiant, and who therefore “win not the
crown.”
The inheritors of telestial glory, typified by the
stars, -are they who are thrust down to hell,” where they
pay their debt to Justice, after which Mercy claims its
own, and they are ushered into a light and freedom greater
than the finite mind can comprehend.
Such is “Mormonism’s”
astounding declaration-the
only
religion on earth that dares to say THE DAMNED
CAN
BE SAVEDI
Yes, anyone can be saved who will repent,
even in the depths of hell. But why go there to repent?
Why not make Peace with Heaven here?
A Nautical
Illustration
I was crossing the Atlantic on an ocean liner. I was a
first cabin passenger; and besides myself there were upwards of a hundred others in that part of the vessel. The second cabin had about twice as many passengers, and in the
steerage were several hundred more. The first cabin berths
were not only the best furnished, but the most favorably
situated for comfort, convenience, and safety. Every courtesy was shown to the passengers; the captain and other officers were their associates; their food was of the choicest, and
thev had the full freedom of the shin. Tbev might go down
46
THE STRENGTH
OFTHE “MORMON” POSITION
into the second cabin or lower down, into the steerage, and
return, without hindrance or question. They had paid for
these privileges
and were therefore entitled to them. But
it was different in the second cabin. There the food was not
so good, the berths were less comfortable,
and the privileges fewer. Passengers might descend into the steerage,
but were not permitted upon the upper deck. In the steerage, conditions were even less favorable.
The food was still
poorer, and the restrictions were more rigid. The occupants
of that section were not allowed even in the second cabin,
Having paid only for steerage accommodations,
these were
all that they could consistently
claim. Viewing the situation, I said to myself: What a striking analogy to the final
destiny of the human race, as set forth in the revelations of
Cod1 All men rewarded according to their works-saved
according to their works, according to the desire of their
Father! And I resolved anew that I would be a first cabin
passenger over the ocean of life into the haven of Celestial
glow
Mormonism’s
Magnanimity
Joseph the Seer, after gazing upon the glories of eternity, outlining the ultimate destiny of the human race, had
another vision in which he “beheld that all children who die
before they arrive at the years of accountability,
are saved
in the Celestial Kingdom.”
He also saw his father, his
mother, and his brother Alvin in that Kingdom. His parents
had received the Gospel; but Alvin died before it came. He
was a good man, however,
and had faith in what the
Prophet told him. He simply had not been baptized. Nevertheless, Joseph beheld him in celestial glory, the highest
glory of all, and it caused him to marvel. Then fell this
word from Heaven:
-
“MORMONISM’S” MAGNANIMITY
47
“All who have died without
a knowledge
of this
Gospel, who would have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the Celestial Kingdom of
God; also all that shall die henceforth without a knowledge
of it, who would have received it with all their hearts, shall
be heirs of that Kingdom, for I, the Lord, will judge all men
according to their works, according to the desire of their
hearts. And I also beheld that all children who die before
they arrive at the years of accountability,
are saved in the
Celestial Kingdom of Heaven.” (D. H. C. 2:380-381.)
Could justice, mercy, magnanimity,
go further?
And
yet there are people who imagine “Mormonism”
to be something small, narrow and illiberal.
On the contrary, it is
broad, generous and charitable, as all its teachings testify.
The Source of Its Strength
“Mormonism’s”
strength is not in the number of its
adherents, who are comparatively
few; nor in the sagacity
of its leading men, who are only mortals. Rather does it
reside in the fact that every worthy man and woman connected with it is entitled to and receives a personal, direct
testimony of its truth. The Church of Christ is founded
upon this rock - the Rock of Revelation - against which
the waves of sophistry, the billows of bigotry, the breakers
of persecution, beat and dash in vain. All who fight the
truth are foredoomed to defeat. The Gates of Hell cannot
prevail against it. “Mormonism”
is strong because God
is its Author - the Engineer directing its course; and all
the might of Omnipotence
is behind it, impelling
it on to
its destiny. It is the Everlastng
Gospel, the saving, glorifying power of God, the power by which He carries on His
mighty and marvelous work, bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
Deseret Newa Press
Salt Lake Citr. Utah